RWBY AU: M32 - Volume 4
by Rocketiermaster
Summary: WARNING! SPOILERS FOR RWBY! WATCH THAT FIRST! Credit is given in the Authors note. As I've said before, bear with me as my writing will get better.
1. Author's Note

Author's Note

I wrote Volumes 1-5 before starting to post, so my upload rate is whenever I felt like actually spending an hour or two to upload a volume. The "cave incident" that is mentioned is a mini-story that I wrote interwoven with a writing from one of my friends, but his version was canceled due to certain circumstances. All characters except for Rocket were made by RoosterTeeth Animation.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

POV: Omniscient

Nora: All I'm saying is that JNRRR makes so much more sense!

It had been around 6 weeks since the cave incident, and Nora and Ren had been arguing almost the whole time.

Ren: But Ruby is basically the leader, so wouldn't RRNJR make more sense?

Nora: How can I be any more CLEAR?!

A projection of the word JNRRR appeared.

Nora: 1… 2… 3! That's more than 2!

Ren: But JNRRR still isn't a color.

Jaune: Guys, please be quiet. Also, JNRRR sounds WAY cooler.

Nora: EXACTLY!

He heard thudding in the distance.

Jaune: I… think that's them…

Suddenly, Ruby came bursting out of the treeline on the edge of the a cliff, still firing. The treeline didn't last a few more seconds, as a giant creature made of stone burst out, destroying most of the tree's behind it. Then, it seemed to notice that gravity existed, and fell into the clearing in front of Jaune, Nora, and Ren. If got up quickly and aimed a punch at Ruby. She dashed out of the way using her petal burst, before landing beside the others.

Ruby: I could use some help here!

Jaune: Where's Rocket?

Ruby: Um… he was right behind me…

POV: Rocket

I quickly followed the path of destruction Ruby left, as per usual. I came to the cliff face, and looked down over the clearing. I jumped off the cliff, and paused time. This caused gravity to stop affecting me nearly as much, letting me jump further than usual, and also let me hit harder than normal. I slashed, and landed on the ground in front of the golem. I resumed time, slightly fatigued, and stood up. The golem's arm that it had drawn back to punch with fell to pieces. The golem still finished the movement through the rest of its body, before realizing that his arm was gone.

Jaune: Ok! Let's split up to attack. Ruby, right! Ren, left! Nora… you ready to try out that new upgrade?

Nora nodded and pushed a button. Machines began whirring in her hammer, building up power.

Rocket: I got from above.

Jaune: Ok, so that just leaves…

The golem stomped behind us, so I quickly ran up a tree and jumped above it. Jaune seemed to be having little success going straight towards it. I landed on it's back, actually pushing it a couple centimeters. I jumped again, and it spun around, aiming one arm directly at me. Instead, I used my scythe to hook over the arm and rode it. Once it's arm paused for a second, I climbed onto it and slashed at its face. I got a small slice off, before I got hit in the stomach and launched straight up. I hit the ground a bit into the woods.

Rocket: There goes my perfect streak…

At that point, I passed out. That hit had been extremely hard.

POV: Omniscient

With Rocket out of the fight, it was down to Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora. The golem had collected enough rocks to rebuild its arm, but Nora was almost ready to hit. Finally, the head of her hammer glowed pink.

Nora: Ready!

Ruby: Ok, give it everything you've got!

Nora dashed forward. The golem pulled its arm back for another punch. Nora jumped up just as it's arm started moving forward.

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Jaune stood back up. He had gotten knocked over right before Rocket, but hadn't felt any major damage. He heard a crash, and looked up to a storm of rocks, he jumped over the first rock, side stepped a second, and stepped right into another. He doubled over with the force.

Jaune: Agh… "You don't need a weapon Jaune, you're the STRATEGIST"!

He was just starting to recover by leaning on a tree. He looked up, and noticed that the golem was standing over him. A red-ish glyph appeared where it's arm used to be, and a black and white arm burst out. The arm pulled back, and Jaune got ready to fight. Instead of hitting Jaune, though, the arm went into the tree. Jaune took a couple steps back, before full on retreating.

Jaune: His arm is a tree, HIS ARM IS A TREE!

The golem started chasing him while swing its tree-arm like a club.

Ruby: Big mistake.

She ejected the current clip from the Crescent Rose, and pulled out a new one, with a flame symbol imprinted onto the side. She aimed and fired within a second, and hit the tree. The golem stopped chasing Jaune, with its arm now out of sight to Jaune.

Jaune: Yeah! We got it!

Then, the golem moved its arm, so Jaune could see it. The tree was burning with no effect on the golem.

Jaune: Big mistake!

He started running away again. Ren saw how much trouble Jaune was in, and decided to help. Ren jumped out of the treeline onto the golem's back. He began slashing repeatedly, with no effect to the golem. With the golem's attention fully on Ren, the rest of the team regrouped.

Ruby: So, what's the plan?

Nora: Our attacks are doing nothing.

Ruby: We could try aiming at one part of its body at a time!

Jaune: It doesn't care about it's body…

Ruby: Then what should we do?

Jaune: it seems to be protecting its head…

Then, it dawned on Jaune. And then, he proceeded to fail at putting anything into words.

Jaune: I got it! We hit it… HARDER!

There was a moment of silence.

Nora: That's it?

He realized how dumb it sounded, and explained himself.

Jaune: It's protecting its face. If we break all it's limbs, we have chance of killing the entire thing.

Ruby: Let's do this, team!

Then, the group sprang into action. Nora stepped back for a second to charge her hammer again, while the rest of the group distracted it. Ruby and Ren stayed in the treeline, firing at the golem. It easily shrugged off, the bullets, but they served their purpose. Not for long enough, though. The golem realized the bullets were just a distraction, and turned towards Nora. Jaune knew something needed to be done.

Jaune: Hey! Big guy! Over here!

The golem turned its attention to Jaune, who ran between its legs to escaped. While it was turning around, Nora finished charging. She ran at the golem. As it began to turn back towards her, she struck. The golem completely fell apart. Out of the main rock that formed its body fell a grimm that resembled a ghost. It quickly recovered and began flying away. Ruby raised her gun, and fired.

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Jaune: Another win for team JNRRR!

There was a moment of silence for Jaune to think about it.

Jaune: Now that I say it out loud, I think you might have been onto something, Ren. JNRRR just isn't sounding nearly as cool anymore.

Ruby: Now we just have to find-

She noticed something poking out of the ground. She walked over to see what it was.

Ruby: Rocket is not going to be happy…

Rocket: Happy about what?

Ruby: Um, nothing!

Rocket: What is it you're hiding behind your back.

Ruby: Before you see it, I would suggest bracing yourself.

Rocket: What is it-

Ruby took her hand out from behind her back. In it, was what was left of Rocket's scythe, now in 6 pieces.

Ruby: I think the golem might have stepped on it…

Rocket took a couple deep breaths before responding shakily.

Rocket: Well, I can always make another one… yeah, let's just go with that...


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

POV: Omniscient

The next day, Ruby, Ren, and Nora were talking to the chief of the village.

Chief: Thank you. All of you. That golem had been troubling our village for quite a while now. I just wish we could pay you more…

Ruby: It's fine. You've done plenty!

Chief: It's just that-

Then, the door to the nearby blacksmith shop slammed open.

Blacksmith: They're both almost ready! You might want to see this.

And so, they went inside, and were met by Jaune who was impatiently waiting.

Blacksmith: And, here you go!

He set the sword in its sheath on the counter. The shield opened up.

Blacksmith: That was some fine metal you brought me. Accents the white nicely. Where did you get it?

Jaune's eyes grew distant.

Jaune: From a friend.

The blacksmith decided to quickly get off that road.

Blacksmith: Well, you can't have a huntsman without his armor!

He slammed the chestplate onto the counter next to the shield.

Jaune: I… don't know what to say…

Blacksmith: You don't gotta say anything! Just put it on!

Jaune: Oh, right!

He quickly took off his old chestplate.

Jaune: I guess I knew I would grow out of it eventually…

Ren: Change is a sign of maturity.

Jaune stepped back.

Jaune: Yah, that sounds-

Ruby suddenly started snickering.

Jaune: What? What is it?

Ruby: What is THAT?!

She pointed directly at his hoodie.

Jaune: My hoodie? I've always had this!

Ruby collected her thoughts for second. She took a deep breath, and stopped laughing.

Ruby: IT'S GOT A CUTE LITTLE BUNNY RABBIT ON IT!

She fully broke and began to laugh uproariously. His hoodie did indeed have a brown bunny on the front.

Jaune: It's Pumpkin Pete! You know, from the cereal?

Ruby: What did you do? Send in a boxtop?

Jaune: Yah... 50…

Ruby almost choked, before continuing laughing, even louder than before. She slowly collapsed, all of her energy being used from laughing.

Ren: Well, I guess you can't grow out of everything…

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POV: Rocket

Rocket: Well, you 4 are loud.

They all turned around in surprise. They hadn't heard me walk in.

Ruby: Oh! Weren't you working on something too?

Then, she noticed the sword I had at my hip. It was only about 2 feet long.

Ruby: Is that it?

Rocket: Yes. Sadly, they didn't have any steelwood to remake my scythe, but, then again, I didn't really expect them to. Instead I made a wakizashi.

Ruby: It's so small!

Jaune: A wakiwhatnow?

Rocket: Wakizashi. I prefer the iaijutsu sword fighting style. It would be difficult to unsheath and resheath a bigger sword fast enough. Plus, this sword is made out of graphene.

Nora: Isn't that the stuff pencils use?

Rocket: No, that's graphite. Graphene is pure carbon that is put through a certain pressure and heat. It realines the molecules into a structure more stable than diamonds. It's also lighter than traditional metals, and much tougher.

Ren: Was it expensive?

Nora: And what was with all those random explosions?

Rocket: I just used the forge for heat, and fire dust explosions for pressure, which was free after our little fight with the golem. It took a while to get the combination just right, but it works pretty well.

Blacksmith: Are you sure you kids need to go? You've been real nice to this town.

Ruby: Sorry sir, but we want to make it to Haven as soon as possible.

Blacksmith: Well, I can't say I didn't try. Hope to see you guys again!

Ruby: You too! Thanks again!

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Later that day, we were back on the road, walking casually.

Rocket: Food?

Ruby: Check!

Nora: Not for long…

Rocket: Ammo?

Nora: Locked and loaded!

Rocket: Map?

No one said anything.

Nora: I thought Ren had it.

Ren: No, I gave it to you.

Nora: What?

Jaune: Guys, please tell me you're joking…

Nora: Um…

Jaune: Guys?

Nora: Nope.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

POV: Omniscient

In an unknown land, there was a dark citadel, formed from a black crystal. On the ground around the castle, dark puddles were strewn about. Grimm were crawling out of the puddles, while Mercury and Emerald looked on through the window, shocked and scarred by what they were seeing. They heard a snap from behind them. They turn around, and quickly walked back to Cinder.

?: Yes, yes. Please, keep your minions in check.

Cinder gave him a look that would have killed most people. Not Dr. Watts.

Watts: Ah, yes. I forgot about your voice. Wasn't it a little girl that did it to you?

Cinder slammed her fist on the table, obviously starting to get mad.

?: Wasn't it the same girl that took your eye? You know you should do? You should track her down, taker her prisoner, and... Well… she took your eye, didn't she?

Just then, the doors slammed open. All 4 people in the room quickly stood up. First, there was Cinder. She looked the same as usual, except half her face seemed to be made of stone. Her dress had also changed. Instead of both arms being visible, one arm was exposed, while the other had a sleeve fully covering it, even going past the hand. Second was Watts. He was an older man, with slight traces of gray in his hair, but his age wasn't shown in the slightest by his movements. He seemed to be the most bullyish of the 4. Third, was a man named Tyrion. He had always been a bit of psychopath, hence the eye joke. It's not that he was trying to be mean, like Dr. Watts, he just didn't know what jokes aren't appropriate, and he doesn't know what hurts others. He had long, black hair that went into a braid, which resembled a scorpion's tail. Finally, there was a quiet man, who had just been sitting with his eyes closed the entire time that the group had been talking. He seemed to be younger than the others, but still much more mature and bigger. After they stood up, a strange woman walked through the doors. She had a flowing black dress with a dark purple design. The strange thing about this woman, is that she had pure white skin, with what appeared to be black veins visible on the surface. She also had white hair and purple eyes. She slowly walked around the room, and sat at the head of the table, in a throne made of the same dark crystals as the rest of the castle.

?: You may all be seated.

As soon as everyone was sitting in their respective seats, she started with her first order of business.

?: Dr. Watts?

Watts: Yes, my lady?

?: Do you find such antagonism necessary?

Watts: I'm sorry, my lady. I'm afraid I'm not very tolerant of failures.

?: Then I see no reason for your behavior towards poor Cinder.

Watts: Well-

?: She brought Beacon crashing down, became our Fall maiden, and even killed dear Ozpin. So, to which failures are you referring to?

Watts: Um… well… there's…

Suddenly the 4th man responded for Watts.

?: The girl. We've dealt with her type before…

Watts: Exactly! How is it that one of them was able to best one of us?

The woman gathered her thoughts for a second.

?: As I said, Cinder became our Fall Maiden. The problem is, her blessing also comes with a curse. It makes her stronger in every way, but it also gives her a vulnerability that the girl was able to use.

She let it sink in before continuing with the meeting.

?: Discussing Cinder isn't why we're here though. We need to plan our next moves. Dr. Watts, I want you to meet with our informant in Mistral. Tyrion, I want you to continue your search for the Spring Maiden. Finally, Hazel. I want you to meet with Adam to ensure the White Fang's continued obedience. So far, he's been very loyal.

Cinder tapped Emerald on the shoulder, and whispered into her ear, since that was all she could manage. Emerald stood up straight again, about to speak, but hesitated.

?: Speak freely, child.

Emerald: Cinder wanted to know… What about the girl?

Watts: What about her? It seems like a personal problem to me.

Cinder glared at him. He simply smirked.

?: Hmm… Yes, she could become a problem in the future. Tyrion, Spring can wait. Find the girl...

Tyrion smiled.

Tyrion: With plea-

?: And bring her to me.

Tyrion looked suddenly a lot less excited.

?: That will be all. Everyone has their tasks, now go do them. Dismissed.

Before he stood up. Tyrion had one last comment for Cinder.

Tyrion: An eye for an eye...

He started laughing maniacally. The howling laughter echoed through the halls. After all, "alive" doesn't include "unharmed".


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

POV: Rocket

We marched on silently. We were mostly just thinking, trying to find ways to pass the time. Ruby sighed.

Ruby: Haven is a lot further away than I thought it was…

Ren: Um, Ruby? How long did you think this would take?

Ruby: I don't know! I grew up in a small area! I've never traveled this far from home…

Ren: But, how long?

Ruby: I don't know… 2, maybe 3 weeks?

Ren: What?

Ruby: 4 then!

Rocket: This is the 3rd week, and we are about 1/5th of the way there.

Ruby: One of those weeks was spent in that village, and the cave incident took 3 days, so really, we've only been travelling for 2 weeks.

Nora: Yah, and we might have to stop in other places.

Rocket: Accounting for those chances, we will most likely take 8 weeks. 2 times your highest estimate, and 4 times your lowest.

Nora: And we don't even know where we are…

Rocket: Hey, we found that extra map! That should help.

Ruby: Yah, but I have no idea where we are on it…

Jaune looked around for a second, before realizing something.

Jaune: I know where we are! We're close to Shion village.

He held the map on one side, and pointed to different places, explaining them as he went.

Jaune: ...And here's were my family used to go camping! I got my own tent, because I was special! And... also so my sisters would stop making pigtails in my hair.

Ruby: Didn't like the look?

Jaune: Yah, I'm more of a warrior's wolf tail kind of guy.

Ruby: Isn't that just a pigtail?

Jaune: I stand by what I said. So, any minute now we should be arriving at-

Rocket: Um, guys?

They slowly looked up. In front of us, was a town that had been completely destroyed. I assume Shion.

Nora: Are those buildings… smoking?

Jaune: There might be survivors, come on!

We dashed into the town, and immediately knew there wouldn't be many. Some houses were still intact, but there didn't seem to be and safe hiding places for the town members. Everything was silent. Dead.

Ren: Over here!

We ran over, found a man, who was coughing up blood. He seemed to have a stab wound to his lower intestine. He was somehow still conscious.

Ruby: What happened here?

Guard: Bandits… once they had looted and created a bit of chaos, they ran. The fear they had created stayed, and drew the grimm straight to us. We didn't stand a chance against the two consecutive attacks.

Jaune: Were there any other survivors?

He shook his head. We stepped back.

Ruby: Ok. I can run ahead and try to fetch help.

Jaune: Nora, Rocket, Ren and I can take turns carrying him.

Rocket: We'll have to be quick. The longer we wait the less of a chance he ha-

Ren: Guys?

We looked over. The guard was already dead.

Ruby: Should we at least bury him?

Ren: We should go. It's not safe here.

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Once we were back on the road, we were silent for a couple more hours, but it wasn't like the previous silence. This silence was more worried. The bandits were still out there, and we were only 4 teenagers. They probably wouldn't even hesitate to attack us. To make things worse, we had planned to stop there for the night, but instead had to move on. It looked like it was about to start raining. Fortunately, Ruby know how to cheer anyone up.

Ruby: Ok, at least we're pretty close to the next to the next town. Hee… gun… ban… ana…?

Ren: Higanbana. It's a village with a famous inn.

Ruby: Meaning no more sleeping in the rain!

Jaune: Assuming it's still there…

Rocket: It should be. According to the notes, this town is actually pretty big.

Jaune: You know, we've had a rough last few days, but I think things are finally starting to turn around. I mean, I really thought we'd be seeing a lot more grimm.

Ruby: Yep! Let's keep moving onwards!

Rocket, Nora, Jaune, and Ren: To Higanbana!

Ruby: To Heegunban-ana!

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POV: Omniscient

Qrow sat at a bar in Higanbana, that had a window overlooking the inn next-door. He watched as team RRNJR checked in. As he was watching, a waitress placed a cup of vodka next to him.

Qrow: Um… I didn't-

Waitress: From the woman upstairs. Red eyes. Said you wouldn't mind bottom shelf, but I went ahead and gave you tops. Lucky you.

Qrow watched as the waitress walked away. He knew who she was talking about.

Qrow: Yah. Lucky me...


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

POV: Omniscient

Blake had been riding the boat for a couple days. It was a massive cruise ship, that had been repurposed as a cheaper way to travel between kingdoms than airships. She was standing at the railing, looking at her ribbon.

Blake: _I guess I won't be needing this..._

She dropped it into the water, and watched it float away. It had soon absorbed so much water, that it sank. She was so lost in her own thought, that she didn't notice the captain walking up to her. He was a grizzled old sailor.

Captain: Travelling alone I see-

Blake whipped around, and almost unsheathed her sword. She stopped, when she realized it was just the captain, who now had his hands raised.

Captain: Now, now, no threat from me. I'm just here to chat.

Blake: And why would you want to do that?

The captain leaned on the railing beside her.

Captain: Well, not many people travel by boat alone these days. After all, it can be a pretty boring trip. But I've found that those who do tend to have a more interesting story.

Blake: Maybe it's just… better for some people to be alone.

As she said that, she heard another noise from behind her, as spun around to find a couple of kids, running by innocently. Her hand came back down from her sword hilt over her shoulder.

Captain: Maybe, but with your paranoia, a few friendly faces wouldn't hurt.

Blake: Who says I'm paranoid?

Captain: No one. I'll leave you be.

And with that, he walked away. After a couple seconds, he turned back for one last comment.

Captain: Just… be warned. These trips can get awfully boring.

As he turned away again, Blake sensed someone watching her. She quickly turned around, and thought saw a quick flash of brown in her peripheral vision. No one was there.

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Yang was bored. There wasn't any other way to put it. Without her arm, things around the house had gotten pretty boring. Now that she was at least out of her bed, there wasn't really anything she could do except watch tv. So, she turned on the tv.

Reporter 1: Try as they might, local huntsman can't seem to get a hold over the school grounds.

Yang: _Don't want to hear any more from that guy..._

Reporter 2: Although the failsafes have supported communication within the kingdom, global communications are still down-

Yang: _That part is a bit obvious, since the biggest cell phone tower in existence has just fallen..._

Reporter 3: Reports have just come in that high ranking, white fang official, Adam Taurus was in fact at the attack. Any and all attempts to take him into custody have been met with brutal force from faunas'

 _Yang: Now that one was new(s). The reports are just now coming in?_

Just then, the door behind Yang opened, and her father walked in, with his arms full of groceries, along with one box that didn't really fit in with the others. It had Atlas' symbol on it.

Tai: I'm home!

Yang: Hey dad.

Tai: Guess what came in today?

Yang: What?

Before he responded, he set down everything he was carrying. He picked up the box with the Atlas logo on it.

Tai: I can't wait for you to try this…

He set the box down in front of her. Yang hesitated.

Yang: For… me?

Tai: For you and you only. I thought I would have had to call in a few favors, but you earned this one all on your own.

Yang opened the box, revealing a robotic arm, and a holder that attached to the place her arm used to be.

Tai: I called general Ironwood, and before I could even say anything, he said he already had his best team of scientists working on it.

Yang just looked at it, and then glanced at the stump. It looked like it would fit perfectly.

Tai: So… are you going to try it on?

Yang: Maybe later… I'm kind of tired right now.

Tai: Oh… Ok.

Yang walked upstairs, after calling down one last goodnight.

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Qrow slowly walked upstairs, really not wanting to listen to his sister.

?: Hello, brother.

Sitting at the table, was that same woman who saved Yang's life on the train, back in volume 2, which I know you've totally reread like 30 times, right?

Qrow: Hello, Raven.

Qrow glanced at the table where her grimm mask was right in his spot.

Raven: Fine.

She slid it over, and he sat down.

Qrow: So, what do you want?

Raven: A girl can't just visit her family?

Qrow: A girl can, but I know you're not, so what's going on?

Raven: Does she have it?

Qrow: Did you know that Yang lost her arm?

Raven: What? Get back on subject-

Qrow: Rhetorical question. I know you know. I just think it's funny how you mention family, and then move on to act like your own daughter doesn't exist.

Raven: I SAVED her!

Qrow: Once! Because that was your rule, right? Real mom of the year material, sis.

Raven: I told you Beacon would fall, and it did. I told you Ozpin would fail, and he has. Now you tell me. Does Salem have it?

Qrow: I thought you weren't interested in all of that?

Raven: I just want to know what we're up against!

Qrow: And which "we" are you referring to?

Raven was silent, collecting her thoughts.

Qrow: You know, you should come back. The only way to beat her is to work together. All of us.

Raven: You're the one who left. The tribe raised us, and you turned your back on them!

Qrow: They were bandits, thieves, killers…

Raven: They were our family!

Qrow: You have a very skewed perception of that word.

Raven: I lead our people now! And as leader, I will do anything to ensure our survival.

Qrow: I saw. The people of Shion saw too.

Raven: The weak die. The strong survive. Those are the rules of this world.

Qrow: Well, you certainly have something, or someone, strong on your side. I've seen the damage.

Raven: We couldn't have known that the village would still be scared enough to attract the grimm.

Qrow: I'm not talking about the grimm, and I'm not talking about you, either.

Raven: If you don't know where the relic is, then we have nothing left to talk about.

Qrow: I also don't know where the Spring Maiden is, but if you do, I need you to tell me.

Raven: And why would I do that?

Qrow: Because without her, we're all going to die.

Raven: And which "we" are you referring to?

With that, Raven left. A reddish glow lit up the upper floor for a couple seconds before everything went back to normal. Well, almost everything. Qrow heard a crash of glassware hitting the floor. He turned around and saw the waitress with a terrified look in her eyes. Qrow lifted his glass.

Qrow: Make this one a double.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

POV: Omniscient

Weiss had been sitting in her room for very long time. She just sat there in silence. It had been probably 5 weeks since her father had dragged her back to Atlas, away from her friends. Her father had come for her way before either Rocket, Ruby or Yang had woken up, so she didn't even know anything about what had become of them. She had seen Blake run away. Now, she was thinking about the possibilities. That was when Klein, the butler, walked into her room. He was the only person she had opened up to since her return, meaning he was only one there who knew about the adventures of team RRWBY.

Klein: Mrs. Schnee? Your father has requested you come to his office.

To most kids, that would be what they were told if they got in trouble, but it was ordinary for Weiss' father to call her in like that. They weren't exactly a normal family.

Weiss: Tell him I'll be right there, Klein.

Klein nodded, and closed the door again. Weiss started to get moving. She slowly walked through the manor. Unfortunately, her father, Jacques' office was on the opposite side of the manor. She passed by a picture of _that_ suit of armor. The armor her father had forced her to fight.

Weiss: _Maybe his office's location is more fortunate than I think…_

She was so lost in thought, she didn't notice her little brother, Whitely, until she almost ran into him.

?: Hello sister! It's nice to see you out of your room for a change!

Weiss: Oh! Hello Whitley. You seem to be in a cheery mood.

Whitley: We had eggs benedict for breakfast. You know how that's my favorite.

Weiss: You seem… different…

Whitely: And you've been away! I haven't stopped growing since you've been gone. You have to remember that you've grown, too. You're becoming more like Winter every day. But anyways, that isn't why I stopped to talk. I came to warn you.

Weiss: Warn me?

Whitley: I heard that father had called for you. I also heard him arguing with someone in his study.

Weiss: Mother?

Whiteley: No, I'm pretty sure it was a man. The voice was too deep to be mother's, and she's already drinking in the garden. Anyways, good luck! We shouldn't keep him waiting.

Weiss: Thank you. So, I guess I'll see you around.

And with that, they passed each other. Weiss was close to the study, and she could already hear yelling. She recognized the second voice as Ironwood. She went ahead and walked in.

Ironwood: And that's why-

As the door shut, they both noticed Weiss.

Ironwood: Sorry, I didn't notice you there, Weiss.

He turned back to her father.

Ironwood: We'll continue this later.

Turning back to Weiss, his expression softened.

Ironwood: I just want to let you know that the way you fought was very noble. There will always be a place for you at Atlas academy.

Jacques: Do you need Klien to show you out?

Ironwood: No, I think I can find my way to the exit. I've been shown it enough for that.

After he left, Weiss had spaced out.

Jacques: Have you forgotten all your manners since you've been out at Beacon?

Weiss: No, I'm sorry father.

Jacques: Can you believe them?! They want to ban all dust exports from Atlas, at least until things "calm down". Just in case someone declares war… You can't trust those politician types. They're always only after the biggest profit.

Weiss: _Well, so are you…_ If it means anything, I trust him.

Jacques: Yes, yes… of course you do… Anyways, I didn't call you in here to talk politics. I called you here because the Schnee Dust Company will be hosting a charity concert in a couple weeks. I was hoping you would perform.

Weiss: _I thought we weren't going to talk politics?_

Jacques: I mean, we need to get the people on our side! Imagine that! A Schnee, defending another kingdom in danger! I think it would make a lot of people happy.

Weiss: Are you asking me, or telling me?

She hadn't actually meant to say that…

Jacques: I think it would make a lot of people happy.

Weiss: I'll start practicing.

Jacques: Thank you. That's all, you're dismissed.

She sighed. They are nothing like a normal family.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

POV: Omniscient

Blake was still sitting at the railing of the ship, by herself as per usual. She had felt eyes on her sporadically for a while now. This time, it got on her nerves too much. She spun around, sword out.

Blake: Who's there?

She saw a cloaked figure duck away, a second too late. Before Blake could investigate further, though, something stirred in the water around them. The boat shook violently, and a serpentine figure rose up in front of the ship.

Captain: By the gods…

The alarm was raised, and people began frantically running all around the ship.

Captain: All hand to battle stations!

First-mate: Sir! We've never fought something this big!

She was right about that. The dragon was longer than the ship.

Captain: We've never even seen something this big… but we'll give her a fight, nonetheless!

Blake ran forward, and jumped off the front railings to fight the dragon. It wasn't expecting an individual attack, and got hit. Unfortunately for Blake, her sword could barely make a dent. She threw everything she had into her attacks, but it still did nothing. She landed back on the decks, and recovered. She had hurt her shoulder during one of the attacks, when a crew member hadn't seen her, and consequently almost hit her with a cannon.

Captain: Prepare the heavy cannon!

Suddenly, part of the deck opened up, and a massive cannon was revealed. The dragon responded by tucking in its fins, and opening up wings. The aerial battle began. It started by dodging the cannon fire that started immediately after it transformed. While the cannon was reloading, it flew straight at the front of the ship, where Blake was. It opened its mouth, and began charging some sort of laser. Blake stood up a little straighter, and got ready to fight. Right before it fired, something jumped on her shoulders, and used it as a springboard. Luckily, she had recovered enough, meaning it didn't do any further damage. She looked up, to the that cloaked figure she had seen earlier. The cloak fell off, revealing Sun. He summoned his light clones, which each grabbed a… whisker? I don't know what that is, but they grabbed it, and used it to pull the dragon's head up.

Blake: Sun?! What are you doing here?!

Sun was now riding the dragon like a very incompetent cowboy.

Sun: Oh, you know. Just hanging out-

The dragon finally threw him off, and he was sent flying directly at an rock poking out of the water nearby. Blake saw his trajectory, and quickly reacted. She grappled off the top of the ship, and swung herself to intercept him. She caught him, and landed. He suddenly

Sun: My hero-

Blake: You're not supposed to be here!

Sun: Oh yeah? Well, it looks like you could use all the help you can get.

Blake dropped him, and walked away.

Blake: Just shut up and fight.

Sun stood up and quickly saluted.

Sun: Yes ma'am!

Blake got back on the ship, and managed to overhear the first-mate-

First-mate: Sir! We can't land a hit, it's moving too fast. We've lost the starboard defenses as well.

Captain: No good news?

He thought about the situation, before deciding on a plan. When he looked outside, he saw Blake about to get blasted by another lazer. Right before it fired, though, Sun blocked it with his staff.

Captain: Huntsmen! It's too fast. If you could clip its wings, and draw it out towards the bow, we can take it!

Blake glanced at Sun, trying to think of a plan.

Sun: I mean… you're the one with the sword.

The dragon flew back around, right in front of them.

Sun: It's now or never!

He summoned more clones. The first three sprang him up into the air, then went up themselves. The last one judo-threw Blake straight up. She ran into another one midair, which threw into another clone, which threw her at Sun. He got ready to throw her, but instead got a foot to the face as she landed on his shoulders and jumped off. She stopped moving upwards, and time seemed to stop, as she realized how high up she was. Sun might have gone a bit over-kill on the height… She started going down, but the dragon realized she was there. It turned upwards, and let loose a barrage of lazers. All of them missed. Blake pulled out her sword, and land on one of the dragon's wings. Running down it, she dragged her sword the entire way it, ripping it. The dragon, suddenly losing thrust from one side, lurched. This motion was just enough to throw Blake off. Sun saw her fall, and quickly calculated trajectories. He ran out to a chain of rocks, and got ready. He caught Blake. The force of her fall caused the rock underneath him to crack. She looked up.

Sun: This is the part where you say it.

She just glared. She didn't get to for very long, though, since the dragon crashed into the rocks, which they now noticed were just stacked somehow. The rock underneath them started to go down.

Sun: Ok, maybe later!

They both started running as the dragon knock out rocks beneath them. They jumped, and barely landed on the last rock, which wasn't on a physically impossible rock stack. The dragon stopped level with them, and charged it's thunderbreath. Blake and Sun braced for the pain, when the ship suddenly ran into the dragon. The front had actually pierced the dragon's skin.

Captain: Fire!

The heavy cannon fired, and the dragon was split in two, dead. Blake and Sun both breathed a sigh of relief. Sun raised his hand for a high-five.

Sun: Yah! Up top!

Blake spun around, her hand already up. The thing is, it wasn't aimed at Sun's hand.

 _Slap!_


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

POV: Omniscient

A young farmhand walked into his room. He had just finished a hard day of work, and he was exhausted. Even in his drained state, he had the urge to stand up. Not seeing why not, he did. Then, he walked over to the mirror. He didn't know why he was doing it, but he was.

?: Hello, my name is Professor Ozpin.

Startled, the farmahand fell over, backwards. Luckily, he landed on a pile of hay. Quickly looking around the room, he saw that it was still as empty as it had been when he had entered. That being said, where had the voice come from?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Yang opened her eyes, and saw fire. She was standing in the crumbling ruins of the cafeteria. She looked down, to find that she had the Ember Celica on. When she looked back up, she found Adam, across the room, staring at her. He slowly began to advance. Yang, not knowing anything else that might help, began shooting at him. A constant stream of rockets were fired, but none hit. They all passed right through him. She realized their insignificance, and began shooting faster. The only problem, was that the Ember Celica had disappeared. She blinked, and Adam was right in front of her. He had one of his psychopathic grins plastered on his face. She heard the sword unsheathe as the world faded around her.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Yang woke with a start. She was laying in bed, fully dressed since it was a bit difficult for her to change. She heard voices downstairs, and decided to investigate. She walked downstairs, apparently in the middle of a story.

Port: Then in comes Qrow, wearing a skirt! I was only a teacher's assistant and I didn't know what to do, so I just left the room to laugh!

Tai: Yah, we just told him it was a kilt. He had never worn a uniform before, so he didn't know!

The room erupted into laughter. The only ones there were Professors Port and Oobleck (Oobleck: Doctor!), and Tai.

Oobleck: You are an absolutely terrible human being!

Tai: Hey, the girls all said he had nice legs! I did the jerk a favor! Anyways, that's not even the best part. Then-

Port: Like what you see?

Yang then bore witness to the most comical scene in the history of Remnant. Port had one of his legs on the table, barely keeping balance, all for the sake of the joke.

Port: Wooooooaaa-

Remember how I said he was barely keeping his balance? Scratch that. He lost it. The room also lost any remaining silence. Yang barely giggled. It was enough for them to notice her.

Oobleck: Oh! Ms. Xiao Long!

Port: Sorry, I didn't see you there.

Port had stood up from being on the floor, and motioned towards the table.

Port: Please, pull up a chair.

Oobleck: Yes yes, please.

Yang: No, I think I'm good.

Instead, she sat on the counter, next to her dad.

Yang: So, what are you all doing here?

Oobleck: Contrary to popular belief, teachers do, in fact, have lives outside the classroom.

Port: You see, Glynda is working around the clock to restore Beacon to its former glory, but Mistral wasn't built in a day, and neither will Beacon.

Tai: Ok, can I get back to the story now?

Oobleck: Yes yes, please do.

Tai: So, there we were, staring at Qrow, wearing a SKIRT, when Oz went up, and said, "It's time to work on our landing strategy"!

Once again, the room erupted into laughter.

Oobleck: The Branwen twins have always been… interesting, to say the least.

Port: That didn't seems to stop young Tai. . .

Tai: Dude. She's right here.

Port: Oh, she's fought grimm in the wilderness. I think she's old enough to take a couple jabs at her old man.

Yang: I am also in the room, and can be spoken to directly. I think I am also old enough to be considered an "adult" at this point.

Tai: Adult or not, you still have a long way to go before you're ready for the outside world.

Yang was had heard that phrase too many times.

Yang: Does every father figure ever have the same 3 condescending phrases?!

Tai: Yes, but we only use them when we mean them!

Port and Oobleck glanced at each other. They had figured out that this didn't come out of nowhere. It was probably a built up argument that had slowly grown over time. After all, Yang had a tendency to try to break through a situation, while Tai had already lost someone like Yang because of that tendency.

Yang: Is that so?

Tai: As a matter of fact, it is! If you honestly think you're ready for the outside world, well, then it appears you lost a few brain cells along with that arm!

The room went silent. He had just insulted his own daughter, using an injury she had PTSD from.

Yang: You… jerk!

She playfully punched his arm, and they both laughed. Port and Oobleck quizzically glanced at each other again. The thing they knew, was that Yang did in fact have anger problems. What they didn't know, was that she knew when she lost an argument and could easily get over it.

Oobleck: So, are we finally talking about the goliath in the room?

Yang and Tai started laughing harder.

Port: But seriously… Why haven't you put on the arm yet?

Oobleck: Yes, a piece of Atlas technology being handed out like that is a rare occurrence.

Yang sat silently for a second, collecting her thoughts. She already knew the answer, she just didn't know how to put it.

Yang: I guess… I'm just scared. Not necessarily at the arm itself, but at the constant reminder. I lost a part of me. A part that I'm never getting back.

The room was silent. Tai broke it after what felt like an eternity.

Tai: You're right. You're not getting it back. But will you let that fear hold you where you were, or will you move forward in spite of it?

Port: Fear is something that everyone has to deal with at some point. Why, even I find myself struggling with that emotion from time to time.

Yang: Really.

Oobleck leaned over towards Yang, and whispere-

Oobleck: He's scared of mice…

Port: They bring only DISEASE AND FAMINE!

Yang broke, and started laughing almost uncontrollably.

Port: And don't even get me started on their tails!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Yang: Good night, everyone.

She walked back up the stairs. When she walked into her room she once more came face to face with the arm. Putting on the arm would mean facing her PTSD full force. She hesitated. Then, she heard voices from outside, so she walked over to her window.

Port: Thanks for having us, especially through everything going on right now for you.

Oobleck: Yes, yes. If you don't mind me asking, how is Ms. Rose? Have you heard anything from her?

A shadow of sorrow passed over his face.

Tai: No, nothing yet.

Port: Have you ever thought about going after her? Chasing her home?

Tai: Yah, but I have… other things that need to be taken care of first.

He looked back up at Yang's window. She quickly got out of the way. She knew what she had to do.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

POV: Rocket

We were back on the road, and there wasn't going to be another town for quite a while. Meaning more camping in the rain, which had been pretty constant since we had left Higanbana. We trudged on, familiarly with our heads down and silent. Ruby was the first one to notice the town in front of us.

Ruby: Hey, I thought we weren't supposed to come across another town for a while?

Rocket: We're… not. This one isn't on the map.

Nora ran ahead, and climbed a rock to look over the walls.

Nora: Are those buildings… destroyed?

Jaune: Not again!

We all ran into the city. All except for Ren, who walked casually behind us, starting to recognize things.

Ruby: Any survivors?

Jaune: None over here!

Nora: I don't see anyone…

Ren: You won't find anyone.

Ruby: What do you mean?

Ren: This place… Oniyuri… It was started by wealthy businessmen who were sick of the Mistral government. They decided to start their own city with their own rules. Imagine it as a Mountain Glenn if it was never finished. Many people believed it would be the future. I know my parents did.

Jaune: Then… what happened?

Ren: What always happens...

He brushed aside some leaves, revealing a scratch mark on the walls of a nearby building.

Ren: The grimm.

Jaune: Come on. Let's get out of here.

We started walking, when Ren stopped us.

Ruby: Wha-

I silenced her with a look. I was starting to hear it too. Rapid footsteps. Me and Ren got out our weapons, with the rest of the groups following suite, confused. We heard maniacal giggling echo from every direction, before a man jumped over walls in a single jump. While he was still in the air, he targeted Ruby, and began firing. I moved in front, and blocked the bullets. He landed, and immediately kicked at Nora and Ren, who ducked underneath. Jaune and I ran forward and both sliced at the man. I sliced underhand and he sliced overhand. The man blocked both, I quickly disengaged and reversed the blade to try an overhand cut. I got a punch to the gut, followed by an uppercut. The impact lifted me up into the air, and then he kicked, launching me through a nearby wall.

Ruby: Rocket!

She charged at the man, who simply backflipped through the building behind him. When the dust cleared he was lightly perched on a support beam.

Jaune: Who… who are you?

?: Who I am matters not to you…

He pointed to Ren.

?: Nor to you…

He pointed at Nora.

?: Nor to- actually, you do interest me.

He had pointed at Jaune when he said this.

?: But no. Who I am only matters… to you.

He pointed at Ruby.

Ruby: What?

?: Oh, you actually have no idea! How exciting this must be for you!

Ruby: What is this about?! Torchwick? The White Fang?

?: Only pieces and pawns. My heart belong solely to our Queen!

Ruby: Cinder?

?: Only in her wildest DREAMS!

Ruby: Well… what do you want?

Rocket: _Let's just keep him talking._

?: Oh, my dear Rose, I've come to whisk you away!

Nora and Ren stepped defensively in front of Ruby.

Nora: You're going to have to get through all of us to get her.

That maniacal laugh rang out once more.

?: HAHA… Good.

And with that, he jumped down, crashing into Jaune's shield, sending him flying. The man had propelled himself back into the air with how he had hit Jaune's shield, and now landed in front of Nora. Ren tried to cut at him while he was distracted, but was easily blocked. Ruby took the second the man was distracted, by quickly reloading. Within a second after, she aimed, and quickly fired. Nora was sent flying by the impact.

?: Today is just not your day…

He looked up, and saw that no one was frustrated, or even worried for Nora. He turned around, and, too fast for the average human eye, Nora ran behind him, just out of his vision, and prepared to hit him. The impact created a cloud of dust. When it cleared, it revealed the man, still standing. Nora's hammer had been stopped by what appeared to be a stinger. He pushed off, landing on a building. The brown travelling coat he had had on floated away, revealing white cloth underneath.

Ren: He… he's a faunas?

The man simply sneered, and jumped back to ground, back and fighting. He started by charging at Ruby, when suddenly, a black katana came out of nowhere, spinning right on front of his face. I quickly followed. Before now, I had just been standing back and recovering from getting kicked through a wall. Now, I grabbed the sword, which had just bounced off an adjacent wall, and sliced at him. He easily blocked, but then my semblance slightly kicked in, letting me move quickly. To the people recounting the story, they would say that we were both moving like a blur. Sparks flew. In the last second of strength I had left, he landed a blow. I was sent flying into that same building. My last sight was the man pulling back his tail for a strike at Ruby. It began moving forward. I blacked out.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

There was an explosion of rubble, coming from the building Ruby was standing next to. There was a clang of metal. Ruby opened her eyes, to see a new arrival, with dusty black hair and a giant sword, which he had just placed in between the stinger and Ruby.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

POV: Omniscient

Qrow opened his eyes and smiled at Ruby.

Qrow: Hey.

Tyrion disengaged and jumped back.

Tyrion: Qrow Branwen! A true huntsman has entered the fray.

Tyrion mock-bowed, and Qrow glanced back at Ruby.

Ruby: I don't know. This guy is weird.

Qrow: Look, pal, I don't know who you are, but I need you to leave my niece alone

Tyrion: I'm afraid that's not quite possible. My Queen has asked for this girl, and so take her, I must.

Ruby: Queen?

Qrow: Salem…

Ruby: Who?

Tyrion: Well, I think that's enough chat for now.

He crouched down, ready to take full advantage of all points of contact.

Qrow: Took the words right out of my-

He was cut off as Tyrion charged. Their movements were sporadic, with no clear pattern as they jumped around. It was now clear that Tyrion had been toying with team RRNJR during their fight. If he was capable of such speeds while fighting Qrow, he could have easily taken down all of them in an instant. Soon, Ren and Nora snapped to their senses, and jumped in to help Qrow. Immediately Tyrion was fighting all of them at once. At one point, Tyrion went for an overhand strike at Nora. Immediately, Qrow was there, blocking it.

Qrow: Stay back! Don't get near.

As they continued fighting, Ruby had an idea.

Ruby: Fine!

She quickly scrambled up the side of a building, and tried to aim at Tyrion. The only problem, was that they were moving everywhere as they fought. Then, it happened. One slip in his guard. The sword stuck into a wall across the courtyard. Tyrion walked up to Qrow. He was about to start talking, when a bullet went right in front of his face. He began swatting the bullets out of the air with his tail.

Tyrion: Wow, and to think tha- AGH

Qrow's fist met his face. Tyrion's mind couldn't decide whether to fight back in kind, or finish him off while he doesn't have a weapon. I mean, normally he likes to play with his prey, but Qrow is no ordinary fighter, and could become a problem if le-

Qrow grabbed his sword, still in the wall. Tyrion smiled. Immediately he was off. Qrow jumped over the first attack, and landed on his sword. He pulled a lever, causing his sword to shift up, and block Tyrion's back-handed slice. The shotgun was now revealed, and he promptly fired. The force of the blast launched him up the wall, and also dislodged his sword. He landed on the roof of the house, just made up of wood beams. Tyrion also jumped up, but stepped on a cracked plank, causing him to fall. Qrow took this opportunity to jump and get a powerful ground-pound on Tyrion, but the tail came out of the building and wrapped around his leg, dragging him in. Ruby's view was obscured, so she jumped back to ground. Suddenly, Qrow burst out the side of the building. His sword was ahead of him, and stuck into the ground. He went flying by it, and grabbed it, swinging himself around and back to his feet. His aura broke. Tyrion dashed out of the building and attacked Qrow once more. His aura also broke. While their weapons were locked, Ruby attacked Tyrion from behind. Without looking, he blocked it, and pushed her back.

Tyrion: Do you wish to be taken? Wish granted.

He pushed Qrow back for a second and dodged his next attack, making a dash straight for Ruby. Qrow moved and stood in his way. Tyrion reengaged, and Ruby once again attacked after he had already locked weapons with Qrow.

Qrow: Ruby! Stay out of this!

Ruby: This is my fight too!

Qrow: No, it's not that. It's-

Ruby was kicked back, but landed on her feet. The problem was where she landed. She heard rumbling and looked up. The overhang she had landed under shuddered, and fell. She braced. The impact never came. Qrow had, in an instant, cut through all of the logs.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

But he didn't see the next part coming. Luckily, I did. I blinked over, and deflected the faunus' tail which he had tried to hit Ruby with. I heard a gasp from behind me. The tail had changed course after I deflected it, and it hit Qrow. Time seemed to stop. No one knew what to do. I did.

Rocket: Petalburst!

The hours of training team attacks paid off, and we, in sync, scissored the man's tail off.

Tyrion: AGH! You… you…

He suddenly realized how outnumbered he was. Qrow wasn't badly injured, so he could still fight. Now Nora, Ren, and Jaune moved in between him and us.

Tyrion: You will pay.

And with that, he turned **tail** and ran. Qrow doubled over.

Ruby: Are you ok!?

Qrow: I'll live. He barely grazed me.

Nora: Who was that?!

Ren: And why were they after Ruby?

There was a moment of silence.

Ruby: Qrow… what's going on?

He breathed heavily for a few seconds, recovering.

Qrow: What's your favorite fairy tale?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

As the group walked away, and ominous purple ooze dripped out of the disembodied tail. The troubles for team QRRNJR (The Q is silent) had only just begun.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

POV: Omniscient

Sun: Don't worry, and enjoy the rest of the trip. We got this.

He waved to the other passengers as they walked away.

Sun: It's like they've never seen a fight before…

He turned back to the form of Blake, sitting on the railing.

Sun: So… now that that's all over, hello!

Blake: Sun, why are you here?

He sighed.

Sun: Do you mean metaphysically, or…

She just glared at him.

Sun: Ok, I'll take that as a no.

Blake: Just get to the point.

Sun: Look. I saw you leave. You didn't even say goodbye. You just… you made sure everyone was fine, and then left. But then, I understood everything. I figured out why you left.

Blake: So then, let's hear it. Why did I leave?

Sun: You're going on a one woman rampage against the white fang!

Blake: What?!

Sun: You've always felt that the fight against the white fang was your fight so-

Blake: You're wrong, Sun. You're so, so wrong.

Sun: Well, then what are you doing?

Blake: I don't want to fight anyone. I left to rest, recover, and see my family.

Sun: Then why not do it with your friends?

Blake: Oh yah? Well what about your team? I assume Sage, Scarlett and Neptune aren't hiding below deck.

Sun: You think I could ever get Neptune on a boat?

She gave him the familiar glare.

Sun: They went home to Mistral! I told them I'd catch up. It's not the first time I've left them to ride a boat.

Silence stretched for a moment.

Sun: So, if we're not attacking the white fang, where are we going?

Blake: How did you get on the boat without knowing where it's going?

Sun just shrugged.

Blake: I'm going home. To Menagerie.

Sun: Well I'm coming with you!

Blake glanced at him questioningly.

Sun: The grimm are getting worse, you saw it yourself! And even if you're not going after the white fang, that doesn't mean they aren't going to go after you. Also, I'm kind of already on the boat.

Blake looked out, and smiled.

Blake: There's really no stopping you…

Sun: Nope! This'll be great! I've never been to Menagerie before, it'll be a regular journey to the east!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

They stepped off the boat, and Sun was surprised.

Sun: I've never seen this many faunas in one place before… In fact, I haven't seen this many people in one small area before.

Blake: This is the one place anyone can be welcome, no matter who you are.

They set off, but only were able to move slowly, because of the dense crowds.

Sun: Is it always so… crowded?

Blake: Well, that's what tends to happen when you take an entire species and shove them onto an island that's 2/3s desert.

Sun: What? You guys have that much extra space?! Why waste it? A desert never hurt anyone.

Blake: These aren't like the deserts in Vacuou, Sun. These deserts are dangerous. Filled with evolved grimm that have some of the deadliest venom in the world.

Sun: So… they gave us a crappy island in the middle of nowhere to try and shut us up.

Blake: Pretty much.

Sun: Huh. Jerks.

They continued walking.

Blake: They might have just given us a "crappy island", but we made due. We did the best with what we had. We made a society that accepts all, a society for us.

As she said this, they reached the top of a hill, that gave a perfect view of most of the town they were in.

Blake: This is Kua-Kuana, my hometown.

Sun: Wow… I take it all back. This place is great! Who would ever want to leave?

Blake: That's not the point, Sun! We wanted equality! To be treated like regular people! Instead, we were given an island and told to make due.

Sun: So, which one's yours? Is it that one? Oh! How about that one over there? I like the paint job…

As he guessed, he pointed at the different houses. Blake just grabbed his wrist, and moved his hand to point at the correct one. It was the chief's house. He pointed at her, and then back to the house. She nodded. HIs mind broke.

Sun: Whaaaaaa…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

They arrived at the house, and walked up to the main door. Blake reached for the iron knocker, but hesitated.

Sun: This is why we're here, right?

Blake: It's just… been a while since I've been here.

Sun: Wait… when did you leave?

Blake: Um… around 6 years? 7 years ago? I can't quite remember.

She turned back around. The iron knocker made a resounding boom, that echoed in their ears.

Sun: Well, that's not ominous or anything.

Then, the door squeaked open. In the doorway was a smaller woman, dressed in finer clothing than the other people around the island. Sun's assumption that this was the chief's house was all but confirmed.

?: Hello- Blake?!

Blake: Hey… mom...

?: Kali? Who's there?

Behind Blake's mom, was a bear of a man. His harsh expression softened when he saw Blake.

?: Blake?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Back at the Xiao Long household, Tai was watering the sunflowers. As he was standing there, he heard the door open. Yang stepped out, and blocked the sun with her right arm. Her new arm.

Tai: Alright. Now we can begin.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

POV: Omniscient

The Belladonna family plus Sun were sitting around a low table drinking tea. After a couple awkward minutes of Sun stumbling around words and Blake's father assuming the worst meanings to what he said, Sun discovered that her father's name was Ghira

Ghira: And what's that supposed to mean?

Sun: Um… on the dance floor!

Ghira: Why were you watching her dance?

Blake just had her face buried in her hands at this point.

Sun: It was the school dance! We were dancing togethe-

Just then, a boom saved him from having to continue.

Ghira: Give me a second. I forgot about this…

After he left, Blake finally said something.

Blake: Who was that?

Kali: oh, it's nothing. It's just a meeting with the white fang.

At that, Sun and Blake both almost dropped their cups. They quickly set them down, and started running towards the front door.

Sun: Those psychos are here, too?!

They ran through the door, and into the front room.

Ghira: Is something wrong?

Standing in the doorway, were two people in matching red robes.

Blake: Why are you talking to these people?!

Ghira: What do you mean? This is Corsec and Fennec. They're the white fang representatives in Menagerie.

Blake gathered her thoughts, but before she could tal-

Sun: Wait, you seriously don't know?!

Ghira: Know what?

Blake: The white fang was at the fall of Beacon. They slaughtered innocent civilians, and released grimm into the school.

Ghira turned back to the representatives.

Ghira: Is this true?

They glanced at each other.

Corsec: I'm afraid it is.

Blake Don't act li-

Ghira: That's enough, Blake. Explain yourselves.

Fennec: Actually, that was the reason we originally scheduled this meeting. We wanted to assure to you that Adam's agenda does not follow the will of High Leader Khan.

Corsec: As you are all probably aware, Adam has always been more… violent than others. He never believed humans and faunases were equal. Instead, he believes that faunases are the dominant race.

Fennec: The way he has gone about being heard is not good. We will be sending you a full list from Sienna on everything he has done that is against her will, and what she is planning to do in response.

Ghira: Ok. Thank you. I'll read it over later, but first I would like to have some time to spend with my daughter.

Corsec: But of course!

Fennec: Ah, yes. We were upset when we heard of your departure from the White Fang, Blake.

Corsec: But we do understand. After all, this can be a wearying fight.

Blake: Who said I'm done fighting?

Ghira: If you have nothing else to say, gentlemen, I'd like to go back to catching up.

Fennec: As you wish.

Ghira closed the door. The room was silent for a second as they thought about the conversation. Only for a second, though.

Sun: So, those guys were creepy.

Ghira: I really don't like you.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The two white fang representatives were walking away from the Belladonna's house, discussing the previous conversation.

Corsec: This could be bad.

Fennec: Should we inform Adam?

Corsec: Yes, let's.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

POV: Rocket

Qrow: So… no questions?

Jaune: Of course we have questions, it's just a lot to take in.

They had left Oniyuri and immediately set up a camp. There, they tended to Rocket and Qrow's injuries. After he was all patched up, Qrow decided he would explain everything to everyone.

Ren: So, there are 4 maidens, that don't need dust to use magic. To keep the power alive, whenever a maiden dies, the power is transferred to a female they love.

Qrow: The last one in their thoughts. Important distinction.

Jaune: And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha. Turn her in to one of them.

Qrow: The last maiden had been attacked. Somehow, they stole some of that power without killing her. We feared if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well.

Jaune: So you forced it on Pyrrha.

Qrow: We gave her the facts, and let her decide. You were there, you heard her.

With that, Jaune stood up in a huff, and stepped away. I knew I needed to change the conversation.

Rocket: So… why did they target Beacon? The school had to have been difficult to attack.

Qrow: Let me tell you another story. So, before humans roamed Remnant, there were two gods. One older and one younger. The older loved to create life. Plants animals and light were created by the older brother. Meanwhile the younger brother would see all that his brother had made, and hate it. He created destruction. Fire, Famine, and destruction was created to destroy life. But life always returned. Finally, the younger brother decided to create something with his innate desire to destroy. This creation would roam the earth, destroying anything the older brother made.

Ruby: The creatures of grimm?

Qrow: Right. After he made this, the older brother had had enough. He stepped in with an idea. He wanted to work together with his brother, to make something even greater. Their masterpiece. With their power combined, they gave them the ability to create, and destroy. To learn about the world around them, and to choose which path to take. The path of good, or the path of evil. And thus, humans were brought into the world.

Ren: What does that have to do with the schools?

Qrow: You see, those gifts aren't just metaphorical. They exist in a physical form. These 4 relics were given to man, but they need protection. If someone collected all of them, they could change the world directly with their will. Because of this, man made the schools. Their main focus was to raise huntsman, but they also serve another purpose. To protect the relics. This way, the relics are constantly surrounded by trained warriors, and even have an easy method of defence. That way, they kept it all out of "her" hands.

Rocket: Salem?

Qrow: Yes. No one knows where she came from or when she got here, but what we do know, is that if she gets the relics, bad things will happen.

Ruby: That still leaves one question. Why not just travel with us, instead of all this secrecy?

Jaune: Isn't it obvious? He was using us as bait.

Qrow: No, it's something else. It's more complicated than that.

Rocket: Well then, let's hear it.

Qrow: It's late. You kids should go to bed.

Nora: Seriously? NOW you're tired of telling us stories?

Qrow stood up, and walked over to the fire. He began poking it absentmindedly.

Qrow: It's a bit more… embarrassing.

He thought for a few more seconds, before making up his mind.

Qrow: Ok. Have you ever heard that crows are a sign of bad luck? Old superstition, but it's how I got my name. Some people can absorb electricity, stop time, or burst into rose petals. My semblance isn't like most people's though. It's always there. I can't turn it off. I bring misfortune. It might be good for in a fight, but it doesn't distinguish between friend, foe, or family. That's why I didn't want to travel with any of you.

He stood up straight again, and began hobbling off into the woods.

Jaune: And where do you think you're going?

Qrow: Just taking a walk.

Ruby: Is there anything else you want to tell us?

Qrow looked up into a nearby tree, and saw a raven, sitting in the tree branch.

Qrow: Not yet.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The next morning, we woke up and stretched.

Ruby: Ok. I think it's about time we get moving today…

She heard coughing, and looked to find the source. It was Qrow, who had been leaning against a nearby tree. He had his hand at his side, holding onto the tiny, bandaged cut. The strange thing was that the clothing around the wound was still wet with blood. The cut should have scabbed over by now was still weeping. He lifted his hand, and we saw the purple stain of poison, also on the bandage.

Ruby: *Gasp*

Qrow: Well, that's unfortunate…

And then he passed out. His breathing stabilized, but I fear that that probably won't last for long.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

POV: Omniscient

Blake was sitting outside her dad's office. She wanted to go in, but she also didn't want to. She knew the conversation would be awkward. She didn't notice her mom walking up behind her, with a tray of tea.

Kali: You can always go in, you know.

Blake: I… don't want to bother him. He seems busy.

Kali: A father is never too busy for his own daughter.

Blake: One of my friends would definitely disagree with you on that one.

Kali: You haven't really said much, but that boy you brought back loves to run his mouth. I want to hear more about the adventures of team RRWBY. Here.

She handed Blake the tea-set, and walked away. Blake realized what it meant too late.

Blake: Wait! Where are you going?

Her mom had already left.

Ghira: Kali? Is that you?

Blake was shaking, causing the tea-set to emanate a rattling clamor. She walked in as casually as she could. Her dad's back was to her. He began to turn around.

Ghira: Can you set it over he- Oh, Blake!

Blake: Hey, dad…

Ghira: Please, sit down. Do you still prefer sugar in your tea?

Once they were seated on the couch, he began putting it one of the cups.

Blake: No thank you.

Ghira: Oh… um, I'll take this one-

They almost immediately began talking over eachother. Eventually, they didn't even know which cup was which. They just sat, silently.

Ghira: So, how are you doing?

Blake: Fine.

More silence.

Ghira: Don't you think you might need a bit more armor? It doesn't seem like it covers a lot-

Blake: It's fine.

During the silence, Blake had been thinking of how to word her thoughts.

Blake: How…

Ghira: Hmm?

He saw that tears were starting to form in her eyes.

Blake: How can you guys still accept me?

Ghira: What do you mean?

Blake: I shouted at you, I called you cowards… How can you still love me after all of that?

Ghira: You know, your mother and I have never held anything against you.

Blake: I-

?: WooAH!

Sun crashed in through the door, easily breaking it down.

Blake: Sun?!

Sun: Sorry, I was just looking for the bathroom! Sorry to interrupt this tender family moment.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

 _Slap_

Blake: NO respect for personal space!

Sun: OW! I said I'm sorry! Look, I swear it was important. Your mom said something weird about the white fang-

Blake: I'm going to stop you right there. I already told you, I'm not fighting the white fang.

Sun: She said that the white fang in Menagerie doesn't wear masks, but I saw one at the market! Look! I'm trying to help!

Blake: I don't WANT your help!

She slapped the scroll out of his hand, launching it into the forest.

Sun: Hey-

?: *Audible gasp*

They turned towards the woods, and saw a person in all black. Their small frame made them almost seem like a kid. They had a mask on, but otherwise, their skin was all black. They realized their cover had been blown, and ran.

Sun: A freaking NINJA?!

Blake: A spy.

She immediately jumped into the woods after the spy.

Kali: What's going on?

Sun: The white fang is evil, I totally called it, and I'm going to bring your daughter back!

Sun jumped back into the woods, leaving Kali standing on the porch, very confused.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Blake was quickly chasing the white fang member through the woods, jumping from tree to tree. The "ninja" looked back for a second, and barely dodged Sun, who jumped in her general direction. She jumped onto the roof of a nearby house, and began running. Blake quickly followed. The white fang member saw a pipe of what appeared to be gas, and cut it. The motion also revealed her weapon to be some sort of extendable dagger, with a forward-facing blade. The smoke meant that Blake would be able to see what she was running into. Blake still dashed through, even with that risk. She almost ran right into the whip, which came flying out from her right. She ducked under it, and rolled. When she got back up, the white fang member, which, upon closer inspection, was a girl, was pulling out her scroll. That was when Sun chose to burst through the cloud of gas.

Sun: Hands up! I'm not above hit a girl, you kno- WOAH!

She tried to stab him, but he fell back, barely dodging it. Blake ran forward, and whipped the scroll out of the ninja's hand. The ninja started running for it, but Sun tackled her.

Sun: Get the scroll! Someone thinks it's important.

?: Get OFF!

She smashed her head into his face. The force cracked the mask. The girl took 3 more steps, before being tackled again, this time by Sun's clones. Blake noticed there were 4 of them, instead of the previous maximum of 3-

Sun: Stop staring, and GRAB IT!

Blake ran over, and picked up the scroll. As if on queue, Sun collapsed from the effort of keeping 4 clones. He quickly recovered and was back on his feet.

Sun: Blake, look out!

The ninja's whip was aimed directly at Blake. She stood up straight. The mask crumbled away.

Blake: Ilia?

Sun: Wait, you know her? But she doesn't even look like a faun- AAGH!

Ilia had turned red, and spun around. Her whip extended, stabbing Sun just under his left collarbone. He fell to the ground, and an ominous dark red pool formed around the point of impact.

Blake: Sun!

Ilia resumed her previous stance, facing Blake.

Ilia: Give me the scroll.

Blake: How about no?

Ilia turned a dark blue.

Ilia: You shouldn't have come back, Blake.

Ilia threw a smoke bomb, and had disappeared once the smoke cleared. Blake stood, stunned for a second. Then Sun moaned, and she remembered what had happened. She ran over, and quickly used her sleeve to stop the blood flow.

Blake: Somebody, HELP! Anybody!


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

POV: Omniscient

Weiss was sitting on her bed, with her father pacing in front of her. She had blown up at the concert. It had gone fine, but afterwards was where the problem lied. A guy had flirted with her. She had denied him. She saw a painting of Beacon before it was destroyed. Some sort of post traumatic stress awoke within her, and she couldn't control herself. She fell over, and a glyph had appeared behind her. A summon glyph. It summoned a boarbatusk, which almost killed the poor man that had flirted with her. Because of the way it happened, everyone thought she had tried to kill someone for trying to flirt with her. But anyways, back to the present.

Jacque: This… this is unbelievable! Do you know how much that stunt will cost the company? It'll cost millions! People will stop supporting us. They'll stop buying. What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?

Weiss: I want to leave.

Jacque: Oh, so that's all? You think you can just barge in, make a mess of everything, and then leave? I don't think so. You aren't going anywhere.

Weiss: To be fair, it is my company.

Jacque: Is that so? Well not anymore. You are going to be sitting right here in your room. That is, until we can agree on your future.

Weiss: Won't people wonder where the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company went?

Jacque: And that brings me to my main point. You are no longer the heir. Obviously, your experience at Beacon was too much for you, so you honorably passed the role onto your little brother.

Weiss: What?! You… you can't do that!

Jacque: I already have.

And with that, he walked out. For the moment he opened the door, Weiss saw Whitley outside. She immediately barged out.

Weiss: You!

Whitley: Yes, sister?

Weiss: You've been nothing but nice to me since I got back!

Whitley: If loving my older sister is a crime, then I'm afraid I'm guilty.

Weiss: You planned for all of this! You made me feel welcome, so I would do something like this. So YOU would get the company!

Just then, she remembered his words weeks earlier.

Whitley: _You're becoming more like Winter every day!_

Weiss: You never like Winter! You never liked me!

Whitley: It is not a good idea to disobey father. Goodbye.

He turned around, and walked away. Weiss went back into her room, since it's about the only place she could go. Immediately, she fell on her bed, and cried. Then she remembered her friends, and a new determination found itself within her. She clenched her fists, and got to work. First, she needed space, so she cleared out an area. She figured for a large enough area to be available, she would have to move most of the things in her room. She started with the bed. In the middle in the room as it was, it occupied the best place for practice. She angrily gave it a kick. It only moved about an inch.

Weiss: _How out of shape have I gotten?_

She then tried to push it normally, with a little more success. Finally, she figured out how to do it. She walked over to her dresser, and opened the box sitting on top. Sitting inside was Myrtenaster, along with 6 vials of dust. Actually, 5 vials of dust, and one empty vial. She got it out and cast a glyph. Most people in her family could cast glyphs without the use of a conduit for the aura, but she still needed to work on it. She used a motion glyph to pushed the bed around. After moving a couple more things, she surveyed her handiwork. Her first thought was of her father, and how he would disapprove of such a messy room. She quickly threw the thought away and got to practice. She had glyphs to work on.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

We had been walking for a couple more days. Qrow's condition had only been worsening since he passed out on the first day. I had been doing my best as a medic, but I didn't know that incredibly much. I didn't know a way to fully cure him, but I at least knew of a certain mixture of wild herbs in the area that could slow his immune system. That might sound like a terrible idea, but helps, because it slows everything down, including the poison's spread. From what I can tell, as long as it doesn't reach his brain, we should be fine. The problem is that we can't tell how close it is to doing just that. The journey had been a silent one since the campfire. Even Ruby, who could normally cheer the group up even after the most traumatic events, was weighed down by it. That does make sense though. After all, he is her uncle, and he did teach her everything she knows. We have been able to make a makeshift stretcher out of duct tape and two sticks. I'm just glad I always brought too much random junk, hence randomly having tape used to repair air-ducts. We came up to another split in the road. This one had signs pointing at Kuroyuri to the left, and Mistral to the right.

Jaune: Look! Mistral!

Rocket: Also look a bit further. That path goes up through the mountains. I don't think he could make the trip.

Ruby: Well, what about that town? It could have a doctor there!

Ren: That town was destroyed years ago.

Rocket: I guess logically, the path could go through the town, and then continue on to Mistral. The only problem, is that we won't know for sure without a map. If it doesn't lead to Mistral, then we could lose weeks.

Ruby: I guess we might be able to find something in rubble of some sort of hospit-

Ren: I'm telling you, you won't find ANYTHING!

Ren was getting angry. There was something he wasn't telling us.

Nora: I have an idea. You 3 can take Qrow through the town. While you're doing that, Ren and I can take the path through the mountains. If we make it before you, we can bring back help. If you guys make it first, at least you can get treatment.

Jaune: I still don't think we should split up.

Suddenly, Qrow stirred.

Qrow: Tai, she's not… she's not coming. Tai! Tai, don't…

Rocket: Whatever we do, we need to do it as fast as possible. He's reaching the next stage.

Ruby: Stage?

Rocket: The poison. If this is the poison I think it is, it tends to have 4 stages. The first stage weakens the victim, hence his loss of consciousness. The next, is a series of vivid hallucinations. The 3 third stage consists of a pattern of weakness and pain, and an apparent recovery.

Ruby: Apperent?

Rocket: Everytime he seems to recover, he will have relapse. Each time, it will get worse and worse until stage 4.

Nora: What's stage 4?

Rocket: Death.

Ruby: I don't think we have a choice, then.

Rocket: Logistically speaking, what Nora suggested would be the smartest strategy. Plus, they will be able to see a pretty long way from on top of the mountains.

Jaune: Ok. I don't like it much, but it's all we can do. See you two on the other side.

After saying our goodbyes to Ren and Nora, they started running up the trail to the mountains. Jaune and I picked up the stretcher.

Rocket: Let's get going. We don't know what we might encounter out there.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

POV: Omniscient

Oscar walked back into his room after a long day of work to clean himself up. He was about to walk back go to dinner, when he hesitated.

Ozpin: Oscar, we have to go.

Oscar: I've already decided you're not real, so you might as well just shut up.

Ozpin: I understand if you're confused. I was too, at first. You see, what happened is that our souls combined in a way.

Oscar: You know I don't care what you say.

Ozpin: Oscar!

Oscar: SHUT UP!

He breathed heavily for a second, before realizing that shouting like that would just attract attention.

Oscar: Look. You don't know me. You don't know what I want to do. You don't know -

Ozpin: I know you want an adventure.

Oscar: _It's just a figment of my imagination… ignore it…_

Ozpin: I think I have a little experiment to prove that I am, in fact, real. Can you describe to me the headmaster's office at Haven?

Oscar: There's no way. I never been that far befo-

Ozpin: Just try.

Oscar: Ok… Um… It's probably a…

Then a full image of the headmaster's office came to him.

Oscar: It's a dark green room, filled with bookshelves. In the center of the room, is a giant mahogany desk, and a tea-set that I- I gave him… What am I saying? I've never been there!

Ozpin: I helped build that school. The tea-set was birthday gift 8 years ago.

Oscar: Ok, that's great. I have a voice that wants me to go do stuff in my head, and no way to get it out.

Ozpin: Look, I know the situation isn't ideal, but we still need to make the best of it, which is why we need to LEAVE.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Yang and Tai were sparring. Imagine her fight with Mercury, but a tad faster. Eventually, she landed a hit onto his shoulder. The impact launched him across the circle they had marked out.

Tai: Woah, that thing packs a punch!

Yang: We've been at this for weeks. I get it, you want to make sure I can still fight. I think I've got that covered.

Tai: You're close, but you're not there yet.

Yang: Oh, really.

Tai: For starters, you're off balance.

Yang: No I'm not! Actually, I've been surprised by the arm. I thought it would be super heavy, but it feels… Natura-

Tai came back swinging and she was barely able to dodge. At one point, she caught his arm, just as he caught her other arm.

Tai: I wasn't talking about your actual balance...

Her feet were swept out from under her, and she hit the ground pretty hard.

Tai: ... But that could use some work, too.

He walked over to the sidelines, and Zwei handed him a towel.

Yang: Meaning?

Tai: I was talking about your mental balance.

She sat up, and look questioningly at him.

Tai: Let me explain. Did you know that you used your semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers?

Yang: So? What's so different about me using my semblance compared to other people using theirs?

Tai: Other people's aren't the equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum.

She just glared at him.

Tai: I'm serious! Once you take damage, you can dish it back twice as hard! But that doesn't make you invincible. It's great for when you're in trouble, but what if you miss? What if your opponent is stronger? Then you're just weak and tired. You've always been one to burn brighter than everyone else, whether it was with your smile, or… well, I'll always remember your first haircut.

Yang: Hey!

Tai: But you've got to keep your emotions in check. Keep a level head, and think before you act. You're semblance is a great fallback, but it won't save you ever time. Obviously…

With the last word, he began gazing, and she realized how much of a tax her injury had been on his mind.

Tai: You seem to have inherited quite a bit of your mother.

Yang: So now we can talk about her?

Tai: Well, as I've been informed, you're an adult now

Yang: Well, sorry I remind you of her.

Tai: Don't be! Your mother was amazing in so many ways. Her strength, her ambition, and her dedication to whatever cause she thought was worth fighting for… I'm proud of how much of her I see in you. But she, like everyone else, had her flaws. It was those flaws that tore our team apart. It also did a real number on our family. You see, you and your mother both act like the easiest way through an obstacle is straight through it. But, if you take a second look, you might find that you can go around it. C'mon. One more match before dinner.

They resumed their starting positions, circling each other. Tai went for the first attack with an overhand punch. Yang easily blocked. They kept trading blows, except this time, Yang focused more on dodging. At one point, he went for a roundhouse kick, which Yang rolled under, so she was behind him. He turned around and caught her elbow which was aimed at his face. Then, he caught the fist that followed.

Tai: See now your fighting with your…

He noticed she had a mischievous grin. Finally, he realized his leg was a bit too far forward. Before he could fix the problem, he found himself falling. At the last second, Yang caught his arm.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

POV: Omniscient

Weiss was standing, and, with perfect form, put the tip of her sword into the ground. A massive summon glyph appeared on her floor. It sped up, preparing to fully summon in the creature.

Whitley: Hello sister.

The glyph quickly disintegrated. Whitley was leaning on the doorframe.

Weiss: Hello, Whitley. Please leave.

Whitley: How insulting. Here I was about to offer you something.

Weiss: What do you want?

Whitley: Father was going to take me to go talk to some of his business partners. I wanted to know if you wanted me to pick you up anything while we were out.

Weiss: Are you jealous? Is that it?

Whitley: Whatever could you mean?

Weiss: Of me, of Winter. Out abilities. Are you jealous?

Whitley: No, actual I find it quite barbaric. Quite beneath people like me, like father. I mean, what could a single huntsman do that an army couldn't? That's why we have one. Even if it is run by a fool…

Weiss: Leave.

Whitley: Ok, Ok…

He began walking out, but stopped just outside.

Whitley: But I do have to wonder, what do you expect to achieve through all of this "training"?

She used a glyph to slam the door in his face.

Weiss: _That._

She turned back around, and got back to summoning. Normally, she has her eyes closed the entire time while summoning, but this time, she looked at a painting on the wall. A painting of a knight, on the wall. Then she closed her eyes, and remembered her battle with that same suit of armor. Her scar burned. She pushed through it, and heard glass breaking. Klein burst in.

Klein: Ms. Schnee! Are you alrigh-

He looked at her little training area. The massive window next to her had shattered, but Weiss was just standing there, calmly.

Weiss: Yes, I think I am.

Standing next to her, was the knight, except not. Instead of a metallic sheen, this one glowed white.

Weiss: Klein, can I ask you a favor?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

We made it into Kuroyuri. We had been trading places carrying Qrow the entire way, but now we set him down.

Jaune: Ren really didn't want to come here, did he?

Rocket: Yah, it seemed out of personality for him to shout like that.

Ruby: I can kind of see why he didn't want to be here, though. I mean, it's basically a ghost-town.

Jaune: Do any of them look like a doctor's hut?

Rocket: It's hard to tell… maybe…

Ruby: We just need to find something. Anything.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

11 Years Previous...

In the thriving town of Kuroyuri, a very young boy named Lie was watching a lotus flower, floating in one of the brick channels around town. He was curious, since he had never seen a flower grow on water.

?: Little Lie, what are you doing?

Lie: Look mother! A water flower! Can we keep it?

An: No, Lie. This is where fate decreed that it should be, so we should leave it here.

Lie: Oh…

An: I know! Here, take these Lien, and buy your father something nice. He's coming home soon. What do you think he wants?

Lie: I think… he wants a water flower for the garden!

An: Why did you have to inherit my sass? Go now, shoo!

After she chased him off, she looked back around the town. It was a small, but prosperous village. They had people of almost all trades, and everyone knew everyone. Their market area was simple; only a couple of stalls set up in a clear area. After looking for a few seconds, she saw Lie run up to the weapons stand.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Lie looked at everything there was at the weapons stand he had chosen, knowing his father was a hunter or somthing like that, and held the Lien out to the stand owner.

Lie: What can I buy with this?

Weaponsmith: How about something your own size?

He held out a small wooden hammer and tiny wooden sword. Ren just walked away.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The bar owner was bored out of his mind. It had been a slower day, and there wasn't really anything to do. Suddenly, a hand appeared from in front of the counter with a handful of Lien in it. He peered over the counter and found Lie standing there.

Lie: Sake please!

The bartender just shook his head.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Lie was looking through the bakery window at some sweets like cake and sekrebuns, a special Kuroyuri delicacy made of purely chocolate, sugar, eggs, and flour, when he heard shouting from around a corner.

?: Hey, where'd did you get that bread?

?: I didn't see her pay for it!

Lie watched on nervously, and saw a little red-haired girl, holding a piece of bread. She was covered in dust and dirt, and her clothes were different than the other kids in the village. She was surrounded by a group of boys around Lie's age. One of them pushed her, sending her sprawling. The bread was sent spinning out of her grasp. She quickly recovered it, almost tackling it to get a hold of it.

?: Is that mold?

?: She probably got it out of the trash!

Then, they looked up and finally noticed Lie. He began backing away slowly, and then sped up. Of course, since he was still looking forwards, he quickly ran into something. That something, was actually a someone. His father.

?: What is going on here?

The boys quickly split up and ran. The little girl soon followed. Ren was the last one standing in front of his father, Lee Ren.

Li: You aren't going to run away with the others?

Lie: I- I…

Lie couldn't find the words to explain himself. Instead, he just looked at the ground.

Li: Sometimes the worst action to take, is to take no action at all. Run along, now. Go home. I need to see the mayor.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Present Day

POV: Rocket

We searched for a while, but eventually just met back up to compare results.

Jaune: Nothing.

Rocket: I couldn't even find any vitamins…

Ruby: We should get back to Qrow. We need to keep moving. We've spent enough time here already.

We walked back over, and found that he was muttering in his sleep again. Suddenly we heard a high pitched, inhuman screech in the distance. We all immediately tensed.

Rocket: Relax. It was far away.

Jaune: I know, but Ren and Nora are still out there.

Ruby stood up from checking Qrow.

Ruby: I- I'm sorry.

Jaune: What?

Ruby: This is all my fault… I should never have dragged you all along on this crazy adventure.

Rocket: You didn't drag us along, we wanted to come.

Ruby: But… you didn't know about Tyrion, about-

Jaune: Ruby… We- we lost Pyrrha. You lost her too. And Penny… and your team… and, in a way, your sister. But despite everything you could even still lose, you kept going. You didn't let all of that slow you down on your quest. You didn't drag us along, you just inspired us to follow in your footsteps.

 _hHhHHhHHHyYhhhHHhYyyyYYYyyAAAh_


	19. Chapter 17 (Continued)

Chapter 17.5

POV: Omniscient

As Oscar walked away from his house, backpack full, he felt a pang of regret. He likely wouldn't see his family again, but this mission is apparently more important. He made sure to leave a note, and he even timed his departure to give himself as much time as possible before it would be discovered.

Ozpin: I'm sorry for forcing you along like this, but this needs to be done.

Oscar: This is crazy. All of it. I'm crazy for hearing a voice in my head. This goal is crazy. And, even right now, leaving home feels crazy, but it also feels right in some weird way.

Ozpin: Well, that's good, at least.

The silence stretched on for miles, as Oscar kept up the slow, tedious march. Eating through the miles, he began to hear thunder overhead. As soon as he noticed the clouds, it began to pour. Hard. Luckily, that was at the same moment the train station came into view. He sprinted the last couple yards, and finally into cover. He walked over to the machine and inserted his credit card. Unfortunately, it was his own money, which he didn't have much of.

Oscar: I'm guessing whatever weird magic this is doesn't come with infinite money?

Ozpin: No, you'll have to solve this one yourself.

Oscar sighed, and put away his card, thinking about any way he could possibly get money. Then, he saw a man also walk into the station. He was a massive man with tan skin, hazel eyes, and equally brown hair. The man looked up at Oscar, and then over to the screen, where his card had been denied for a lack of funds. He raised his fist, and Oscar flinched, terrified of this giant. The fist came crashing down on top of the machine, causing the screen to flicker, before depositing a ticket. It fluttered down, onto the wet ground. Oscar looked back up about to that the man, but he was gone.

Oscar: Who was that?

Ozpin: He was a person from my past. A person whose presence is not to be taken lightly.


	20. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

POV: Omniscient

Sun woke up with a strange feeling in his shoulder. It felt numb. After he opened his eyes, he found himself in the room he had crashed into the previous day, without his jacket. He shook off the mental fog that being knocked out creates and tried to remember what happened. He ran through the steam, tackled that girl, and then… pain flared up in his shoulder. He grunted. Blake, who had been sitting in a chair next to the couch hadn't noticed his eyes opened, and for the first time, noticed that he was awake. Sun expected some sort of relief, but all he saw was the flame of anger.

Sun: Blake?

Blake: This, Sun. This is why I left them all behind.

She stood up.

Blake: I'm done seeing my friends hurt because of me. Do you think I LIKE being alone? Every day… Every day I think about them. Ruby, Rocket, Weiss, Yang… I loved them more than I thought I could love anyone… And I hope they hate me for leaving.

Sun sat up.

Sun: You don't mean that-

Blake: Yes I do! Everyone thinks they can help me, but they can't!

She sat down on the opposite side of the couch from Sun.

Blake: You saw Ilia last night, and she's not even the worst! No… No more. They are better off without me. I made my choices, and I'll deal with the consequences because they belong to me.

A small amount of silence grew out, but Sun quickly destroyed it, like every other silence ever.

Sun: You think you're being selfless, but you're not. Yeah, that chameleon friend of yours beat me up pretty badly, but I would do it all again if it meant protecting you. I can bet you that Yang, Weiss, or any of your other teammates would say the same. You can make your own choices, sure. But you can't make ours. When your friends fight for you or even get injured… It's because we want to. Just please… stop pushing us out. It hurts deeper than anything the bad guys could do to us.

Blake was just silent, staring into the floor.

Sun: Well, if it makes you feel any better, next time I go up against Lizard Girl, it won't be for you.

Blake looked up, confused.

Sun: It'll be to get even. Agh…

As he said his, he tried to do a thumbs up, but painfully found his range of motion. But then, something amazing happened. Something that hadn't happened in a very long time. Blake giggled.

Blake: My hero…

And then, there was a loud crash, as Blake's mom fell through the door, exactly like Sun did the day before. Before they even noticed she was on the ground, Kali was already back up.

Kali: Oh- Oh gosh, he awake! Would you look at that! Thank goodness!

Ghira was just looking into his hand, which was on his face.

Ghira: Kali, please…

Blake: MOM!

Sun: Hey Mrs. B!

Blake: What are you doing here!?

Kali: Well, sweetie, your father needed to speak with the two of you.

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Ghira: We went through the files on the phone. They contain the plans for a white fang attack on Haven. If it follows through, it could be the fall of Beacon all over again.

Another moment of silence passed through the room. They were seated at a table this time, with Sun actually with his jacket on-

Sun: Not if we destroy the white fang, once and for all.

Blake: No.

They were all surprised by her words. Well, all except for Sun. Sun was the only one who could guess what she was about to say next.

Blake: We're not going to destroy the white fang. We're going to take it back.

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Yang was sitting at her father's workshop all morning, working on something. She set down the can and ripped off the tape. She had been painting her new arm a bright yellow. While she let it dry, she went ahead and got her motorcycle ready. As she was tuning it, she heard a voice behind her.

Tai: I don't remember saying you were ready to leave.

Yang: Oh yeah? Going to try to stop me?

Tai: No, I'm still a bit too sore from our last sparring session. I just wanted a better goodbye than a letter. Also, I wanted to ask you a question.

That got her attention. She stopped working on her bike and stood up to face him.

Tai: Where are you going?

Yang: What do you mean?

Tai: Well, I know you want to go after your sister, but I also know Qrow, against my constant pleading for him not to, told you what your mother's been up to these days. I know how much you want to see her. I've stopped you in the past, but I won't this time. If you need to know anything, I can probably tell it to you. So once again, where are you going?

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Weiss was sitting in her room, anxiously waiting for something. Her bag was packed with 3 changes of clothes, Myrtenaster, and a couple vials of dust. She heard 4 soft knocks on the door, with a space in the middle. That was the sign that it was Klein and not any of the other staff members. She quickly picked up her suitcase and walked out.

Klein: Are you ready?

Weiss: As ready as I'll ever be.

Klein: Then let's go. I've set up the chore list for today so that we have a clear route for a while now.

They walked quickly and silently. They had to take a roundabout path, but Klein was right. Everything seemed deserted. Just then, his phone rang.

Klein: Yes? Oh, Master Whitley. Yes, I'll be right there.

He put his phone away.

Klein: Go to the 1st-floor library. Now it should be a straight shot.

Weiss: Ok.

He turned around and walked away, back towards Whitley's room. Weiss continued on. Of course, both of them forgot about one obstacle. Her father's office.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

While she was walking casually towards the library, she heard shouting from behind a door, which she recognized as her father's office. Not wanting anyone to come out and see her, she hid next to the door, so the door would open and hide her if it opened. Also while she was standing there, she could hear a bit of their conversation. She recognized the second voice as Ironwood again.

Jacque: You- You can't do that!

Ironwood: I can, and I will.

Jacque: But there isn't a problem. You're just being paranoid!

Ironwood: Look. Winter is one of my best soldiers. If she says there is danger in Mistral, then I believe her.

Jacque: Oh, so you mean the daughter you stole.

Ironwood: I'm not going there today. Just know that in one week, Atlas will be shutting its borders. Nothing comes in, and nothing goes out without the Council's permission.

Jacque: And by that, you mean YOUR permission?

Ironwood: If that's the case, I would think that you would want to be on my good side.

The sentence had a note of finality to it, and Weiss realized she had stayed too long. If she had just left while they were talking, she would have been fine. Instead, she stepped out, and cast a glyph on the doorknob, basically locking it. She ran away, and hear the door slamming as she left. She finally made it to the library, but Klein wasn't there. She waited for a minute, but he still hadn't shown up.

Weiss: Klein? Klein, where are you?

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to find Klein.

Klein: Shhh.

He quickly bent down and lifted up a floor-tile, revealing a little white switch. He flipped it, and the bookshelf closest to them silently slid into the floor, revealing a stairway.

Klein: Are you sure Haven is safe?

Weiss: I don't know for sure, but it's where I'll find Winter.

Klein: I guess she'll be the only family you'll have left after today…

Weiss: I'll always have you.

Klein: Yes, I guess you will. Stay sa-

*Muffled* Jacque: Klein! Klein, get down here this instant!

Klein: I have to go now. Go ahead and leave.

Weiss went ahead and picked up her suitcase, and ran down the stairs. She turned around to say one last goodbye, but Klein had already shut the door. She was on her own.


	21. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

POV: Omniscient

11 Years Previous…

Young Lie was asleep on his bed, when he was woken up by a scream. Suddenly, his mom came bursting into his room.

An: Lie, you need to get up. We're leaving, now.

Her voice was gentle but shaky.

Lie: What happened? Where's father?

His question was quickly answered as his father also burst in through the front door.

Li: An, grab Lie and run.

An: To the safehouses?

Li: No, take him outside of town. That monster… the safehouse won't hold.

An: What?!

Lie: What… what's happening?

His mother walked over to him.

An: Don't worry. Everything will be fi-

And then the flaming house came crashing down around him.

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Lie woke up in his father's arms. They were outside, and running. When his eyes came back to focus, he noticed blood was pouring down his father's face, and there was even an ominous red stain just above his father's knee.

Lie: F- Father?

His father didn't respond. He just kept running. He was breathing heavily at this point.

Lie: Father, what's going on? Where's mother?

He looked around, and noticed everyone else in the town running out of a cloud of smoke. He saw a silhouette in the cloud. His father's leg gave out.

Lie: Father? Father, please get up!

Li: Lie, you have to run now.

Lie: Get up!

Li: Leave me behind, and just run. Quickly!

Lie: I… I can't!

Li: You have to be strong. Now.

Lie: Just please, get up! I can't!

His father reached behind his boot, and pulled out his knife. It was a strange design, made to be perfectly balanced for throwing, while keeping durability and length. He shoved it into his son's hand.

Li: Yes you can! Take action, Lie.

He slowly got to his feet. As he made it up, a shadow fell over them. It was the monster.

Li: Your mother and I love you. Now go!

Lie ran. His father knew that he would have to keep it occupied. He picked up his bow, which was on the ground nearby, and poured arrow after arrow into the beast. Lie ran through the street, and dove into the water channel, which had been recently emptied to catch water during the wet season. There, he cried as the town fell apart around him. Then, he stopped. He felt a new sense of calm and courage flow throughout him. He looked down, and saw that he was glowing a purple-ish pink. He saw nevermores flying above a house, and under the house, sat the small girl with red hair. She was curled up into a ball, and crying. He waited for a moment where the nevermores weren't looking, and he ran, slidding under the building, next to the girl. She didn't even notice him, until he tapped her on the shoulder.

Lie: We have to be brave-

She immediately jumped on him, hugging him. She was terrified out of her wits, and just happy to see another survivor. After a couple seconds, the glowing aura spread to her, and she calmed down.

Lie: Wait here, I'll be right back.

The girl didn't try to stop him, but she seemed to immediately be worried again once he left. He crawled out into the open and picked up a small, wooden hammer. When he got back, he handed it to her.

Lie: We'll keep each other safe. What's your name?

Nora: Nora. And you?

Ren: My name's Lie Ren.

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Present Day

Ren and Nora were climbing through the mountains and had been moving for around 5 hours in almost complete silence.

Nora: Are you doing ok?

Ren replied with a nod.

Ren: You?

Nora: Well, I've got you here, don't I?

They had to stop after a while, because unlike Nora, Ren did not have endless energy. They stopped in front of a cave. Nora, still having energy, decided to explore.

Nora: Hey, there's wind coming out of this cave!

Ren walked over, and immediately got a faceful of cloth as a flag that had been flying on the breeze hit him in the face. Immediately Nora started giggling.

Ren: Yes, yes. Very… funny.

He looked at the flag. It was the flag of Shion village.

Nora: Shion? But that's miles away!

Ren just dropped the flag, and ran into the cave. When he arrived, he was shocked.

Nora: Oh my gosh…

The cave was bathed in blood. Some of it had already dried, but some was still fully liquid. The kill had been fresh. He looked at one track that wasn't human. It seemed like a horseshoe… Immediately he ran to the other side of the cave. It overlooked the forest. Looking out, he could see some of the trees shaking, moving slowly towards Kuroyuri. As he and Nora were standing, watching it move, Nora slipped her hand into his.

Nora: Let's go.

 _hHhHHhHHHyYhhhHHhYyyyYYYyyAAAh_

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Rocket

Soon after the second screech, Ren and Nora sprinted into town. Apparently, they had sprinted down out of the mountains in just a few minutes.

Jaune: What was that? What are you guys doing here?

We heard a crash from down an adjacent street, and black mist poured out into the town square. We saw the silhouette of a strange creature from inside the mist. Ren just fell to his knees upon seeing it.

Ren: No…

Ruby: What is that thing?!

Ren: No….


	22. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

POV: Rocket

The creature stepped out of the mist, and into the open. It appeared to be a grimm, but it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Like most grimm, it was based off an animal, a horse. Unlike most grimm, it had a second part that almost seemed human attached to the horse. The human had long arms that hung down next to it, with its fingers scraping the ground with each step, and horns that added almost an extra foot upwards. Have I mentioned the size yet? No? Well, the horse alone easily stood taller than any of us. With the rider, for lack of a better term, it easily stood over 12 feet tall, twice my height. Its movements were twitchy and sporadic. Slowly, its arms started twitching to life. It was staring at us, sizing us up, preparing for the fight ahead, when it noticed Qrow, still leaning on the tree, injured. It just stood there, staring at him for a second, before charging. Jaune was the first to react. He quickly sheathed his sword, and ran over to Qrow, and picked him up. The beast was still charging, and now with Qrow, there was no way for Jaune to get away fast enough. Ren seemed to know just what to do in a situation like this, though, because he quickly put his hand on the ground. His aura glowed brightly for a second, before it moved across the ground, straight to Jaune and Qrow. The grimm stopped in its tracks, and looked around, not seeing its target. The thing is, Jaune had no idea what was happening and had also stopped.

Ren: Just get him to safety!

He seemed to be growing more tired by the second. Using his semblance through the ground has to be a tough concept to pull off. Jaune walked away as fast as possible. Nora, realizing that it would just see them as soon as the semblance wore off, fired a couple rockets directly at the grimm, distracting. It turned and attacked us, leaving Jaune and Qrow the distance they needed to return back to normal.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

POV: Omniscient

As they faded back into color, Jaune set Qrow down, leaning up against the back of a building. As he turned to rejoin the fight, Qrow grabbed his arm. After only a second, the moment of lucidity passed and Qrow went unconscious once more.

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POV: Rocket

While Jaune was getting Qrow to safety, we were getting out butts kicked. The grimm could just sit still and destroy us from a distance. We were having enough trouble fighting just the arms. I can't imagine how we're going to kill it…

Jaune: Keep moving! Run in circles!

The strategy actually made sense. The arms, which the monster loved to simply extend in our general direction, had a couple seconds of travel time, meaning they should be easy to dodge if we keep moving. Ruby transformed her scythe into rifle form. The smaller, more compact size made for faster dodging. She didn't really need melee since the arms weren't the main target. Nora soon followed her example, switching to grenade launcher form. Jaune and I, however, were out of luck, since we didn't really have a ranged attack. We were just extra targets. Still circling it, Jaune and I, almost at the same time, started to close the distance. Attacking in sync, we cut and hacked at the horse. Sadly, neither of us were doing enough damage. The horse just kicked Jaune in the face, and the rider almost smacked me with an arm. I was barely able to duck. Instead, I just backed up. Ruby landed next to me.

Ruby: We aren't doing enough damage to break the skin!

Then Jaune, who had just gotten up after getting kicked, revealed his second game changer that day. He compressed his shield and sheathed his sword in it.

Nora: What are you doing?

Jaune then detached the sheath from his arm, and brandished the sword, in its sheath. Before we could ask at his sudden insanity, he pushed a button, and it clicked, pushing two blades out on the sides. Then he ran forward, once more from behind the grimm, and slash again. This time, the horse screamed as it was cut, and jumped back, away from Jaune and into the middle of the square. Then, the rider twisted to one side. I saw what was coming.

Rocket: Drop!

Everyone dropped to the ground, and just in time. The grimm started spinning its arms around it. If we had been standing we would have been destroyed. The problem was now that we were trapped down. If we stood up, we would get nailed. I knew what to do. I counted out the rhythm for a couple seconds and then jumped up, over the next arm, going forward before rolling under the next arm. I jumped over the next arm once more, and this time, I did an overhand cut at the horse as I went down. The power of gravity added to the strike meant that it did do some damage. The rider stopped spinning, letting everyone get back up. The entire battle, it's mouth had been partially closed by strands of I don't even know what. But that meant its screams had been slightly muffled. Now, it broke the-

 _hHhHHHhHHyYhhhHhhYyHyYYYyHAaAh_

The noise was so deafeningly loud, that we were paralyzed there, covering our ears. It couldn't hold the noise forever, though, and soon enough we resumed our previous dance, of running around it in circles. This time, though, Ren got into a tree. I don't know why he did, but he did. I think he planned to jump out when the grimm attack, but he barely mistimed it, and was smashed into a building behind him. Then, the grimm pulled back it's other arm, about to go in for the kill.

Nora: Ruby!

Ruby just nodded and began spinning. Nora jumped on the scythe, and, using a very physics-based mechanism, launched herself with perfect timing to block the arm. Ren, who had closed his eyes and braced for impact, opened them and saw Nora above him and a little to the right, being held up by her hammer. I don't know what he saw, but I do know that Nora shouldn't have worn a skirt to battle today.

Nora: Stop looking!

Ren: Gah!

Then, the grimm pulled Nora from the wall, and beat her against the ground repeatedly, before throwing her to the opposite side of the battlefield. She was knocked unconscious, and her aura broke. Ren was desperately trying to get out of the monster's grasp. He stabbed the hand holding him and fired down the arm. While the grimm was distracted, Jaune snuck up behind it again and slashed. The pain from his sword forced the monster to drop Ren. As soon as Ren hit the ground, I knew this wouldn't end well. He had a deranged look in his eyes. He immediately sprinted forward and got a punch in the face with a stretchy arm. He got back up and ran forward again. This time, he deflected its arms with his knives, but he didn't react fast enough when the grimm stepped to the side. He passed it, then got a faceful of hooves.

Jaune: Ren! Snap out of it!

He didn't. He tried a third time. This time, the grimm just put it's hand over the barrel of his knives, stopping the barrage he was firing at it. It quickly moved both arms down to his wrists and threw him next to Nora. The problem was, his guns were thrown to the other side of the battlefield. He got up, panting, but still with that demented look in his eyes. His aura broke. Nora woke up at this moment and stood up next to him. Then without warning, she tackled him under a building with what looked like Nevermore scratches all over it.

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POV: Omniscient

Nora sat up in front of Ren, who was still surprised by what had happened. He tried to stand up to walk out, but Nora caught his arm. Her grip was surprisingly strong.

Ren: Nora, we have to go! They'll get killed if we don't go back out! Nora! LET GO!

He turned back to her as he shouted those last wor-

 _Slap_

Nora: No. I won't let you kill yourself. After all we've been through…

Ren blinked, and for an instant, saw her on the day they met. He saw a child, curled up under a building, scared. He blinked and saw her how she was now.

Nora: I won't let it end now.

Ren just looked down, realizing what he had been doing. He hadn't been thinking. His only thought had been "Not again". He pulled his father's knife out of its sheath at his side. He held it out. Nora grabbed it with him.

Nora: We can do this, we just have to think first.

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POV: Rocket

I noticed Nora and Ren climb out from underneath the building, and ran over to them Ruby and Jaune had the same idea.

Jaune: What should we do?

Then, all of us noticed the knife Ren was holding. He finally looked up at us.

Rocket: Ruby and I can't take out its left arm. Jaune and Ren, you work on the right. Nora, we'll leave the horse to you. Let's go!

Ren and Jaune ran to the other side, while Ruby and I held it's attention. After a couple seconds, we saw Jaune without his shield, standing ready. Ruby stood behind me, the plan worked out. The grimm attacked us, first. The moment before the arm hit, Ruby jumped over me and stabbed the arm to the ground. I followed suit, pinning it securely to the ground. Then, it saw Jaune, an easy target. It used its other arm on him. We had similar ideas. Right before the arm would have hit, Ren smashed into it, using the shield. As soon as he had it on the ground, Jaune stabbed it down.

Ren: Nora, now!

We had it lined up in front of a building with the horses head behind the rider, facing the building. Nora was on top of said building. At Ren's command, she jumped off. The building was so tall, that Nora definitely hit terminal velocity, meaning she hit the horse at terminal velocity.

Rocket: Ren, do you want to do the honors?

He didn't respond. Instead, he just walked up to it. And looked it in the eyes. It released another inhuman scream, straight into his face. He just stood there. Once the grimm stopped screaming, he got to work slaughtering it in the most brutal fashion. First, he cut off the left arm. It fell away, releasing the elastic tension as it flew off. Then, he cut off the second arm, with a similar result. With each cut, the beast screamed louder. Finally, all that was left was the body and the head. Ren grabbed one of its horns, and slashed it across the chest. It let out its last scream, flailing uncontrollably. Ren let it go for a few more seconds, before putting it out of its pain, by, in one swift motion, cutting off its head. All the tension of the fight left the situation like an empty balloon, as the grimm dissolved into a massive cloud of smoke, that kept rising into the sky. Nora basically hug-tackled Ren. I looked away and noticed Ruby running around a building, and I followed. We arrived, to see Qrow, somehow still breathing.

Qrow: It's… quiet. Good job, kid.

Saying those words must have been a giant effort for him, and he passed out again immediately afterward.

Jaune: Hey, what's that sound?

It was a couple more seconds before we could hear it. The sound that he was referring to was some sort of high pitched pinging sound. After a few more seconds, came the sound of propellers. We were being rescued.

Rocket: I'll get the stretcher.


	23. Epilogue

Epilogue

Team QRRNJR boarded the airships, and took off. The airships were a massive affair, with a huge blimp on top. Twin propellers were mounted on the front and back of the airship, and a fin on the top and bottom turned for steering. The part the passengers were in, were almost like a ship made to float on water, made out of wood and metal. There were two airships, and they spread out between them. Jaune, Ruby and Rocket went on one, taking Qrow along, and Ren and Nora had to take the other. Ren and Nora were sitting over the edge of the ship they were in. Nora was on the right, and Ren was on the left. That meant that to look forward, Ren was looking towards Nora. They were travelling in silence, listening to the sound of the propellers whiring. Ren mind was processing everything that had happened. That was when he realized that Nora had basically saved his life. She was looking into the distance, when she felt his hand on hers. It startled her for a second, but then she turned back around, and held his hand. Back on the other ship, Qrow was still unconscious, and Ruby was standing next to him, holding his hand.

Ruby: Are we going to make it in time?

Jaune: Uh, Ruby?

She looked up, and saw the city of Mistral sprawled in front of her. The town was built on two mountains, with the academy on top, acting as a bridge between the two.

Pilot: We'll have to come in on the ground, since we can't really land on top of the mountain. We've already called, and there will be a medical team as soon as we land.

Rocket: ETA, 13.784 minutes

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Ruby walked into the room she shared with her uncle. Currently, he was laying in the bed, recovering. As soon as they had gotten back, he had been given an antidote, but still needed recovery time. As she entered the room, he stirred. It was the first time since they had landed. She was instantly by his side when he opened his eyes.

Qrow: Hey, aren't I normally the one... saving you?

The effort of saying that one sentence proved too much for him, and he went back to sleep. Ruby left the bedside, and walked over to her own bed. She set the crescent rose on her bed and sat at the desk in her room. There was already a piece of paper and pen ready. She started writing. Her handwriting can only be described as a neat scrawl. The letter was addressed to "sis". It told a story of loss and destruction. It told a story of fear and courage. It told a story of peace and battle. It told a story of unity and fracture. Most importantly, though, it told a story of hope. That story wasn't just any story, though…

It was the adventures of team RRNJR.


End file.
